El Monte student fires gun on campus

EL MONTE, Calif. Just before school dismissal at 2 p.m. Tuesday, a 3rd-grade student took a gun out of his backpack and fired it into the ground, according to El Monte police.

There were approximately 100 children on the playground during the incident. There were no injuries.

According to a police report, the gun belongs to a relative of the student. While removing the gun from the backpack, the student accidentally discharged the gun into the playground asphalt.

The student is reportedly 9 years old. The gun is a .22-caliber automatic pistol.

The school resource officer from the El Monte Police Dept. was on campus during the incident and detained the student and recovered the weapon safely. The student was being detained during the investigation.

An El Monte police detective said the boy's parents or guardians could be charged with negligent handling of a weapon in a home with children.